I stood under the fluorescent lighting of the bank. Screw that….this isn't even a bank! It's hell with cheap fluorescent lighting. But surely hell would come here and take those men and that woman away. Just the thought of them made me grip the paper in my hand firmly as well as the metal object my fingers had snaked around unconsciously. Taking a deep breath I tried to remain calm even though I was as pissed as hell because of not only the issue I had come here for but because sirens of the police and ambulance wailed from the outside and the alarm for the bank had gone off.

Looking down at my hand with the paper in it I realized that maybe I should've thrown it away, seeing as none of the worthless trashes in here could identify the man in this photo…but oh well. Just when I was about to turn around, I heard the phone ring and smiled. I knew this little rendezvous had just begun and smirking I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" asked the husky male voice.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Are you Amu?"

"Who else would I be dipshit?"

"Okay, Amu, I'm Ikuto Tsukiyomi, a negotiator."

"Okay? Like I said before, what do you want?" I asked, trying not to sound angry.

"Well first off, is everyone in that room okay?"

I looked around the room. Some of the hostages were just sitting there in a daze while those around them cried in fear and held onto each other. There were also those who stared at me with great pity and concern. Now if my past was different I would care, but it's not so I don't care.

"Yeah, almost, everyone is okay," I shrugged.

"What do you mean 'almost'? Does anyone need medical attention?"

"My little sister is going to bleed to death….she was shot earlier today by an unknown man."

"That's serious. Okay, why don't you send her out and we'll help her."

"Don't bother, I've already tried. She's barely two and every hospital has refused to take her because we're broke," I explained replaying today's events in my mind.

"I agree, that was wrong. And is that why you came to the bank? And let us help you."

"Hah! Don't make me laugh if you wanted to help so badly, then why didn't you help us two years ago on December 20th?"

"What happened? Could you tell me if you remember?" asked Ikuto.

I stared down at the white marble floor. Of course I could tell him, I still remember it like it happened yesterday.

"It was December 20th," I said after a period of silence, my voice low and quiet. "Mama, Papa, Ami and I were playing a board game. W-we were laughing so hard and then the doorbell rang…P-papa went to check. While Mama told us about a joke Papa had told her the minute before they got gotten married. Suddenly there was a…g-gunshot and something fell to the floor with a heavy thud. This was all followed by a shuffle of feet and unfamiliar male voices. Mama quickly got up and quickly ran across the hall and pushed us into another room. As fast as I could I called 911 and told the operator to send the police over because there were some bad people attacking us. That bitch…she laughed and told me don't make prank calls…and then she hung. The minute I heard the beep of the phone, another gunshot erupted. I knew that…in that moment Mama…she too was dead."

"Oh…I'm deeply sorry for your-

"Shut up! You don't care! No one cares at all!"

"Listen, we do care. Just release all of the hostages and we'll help you and your sister."

"You want to help us so badly huh? Then go bring Mama and Papa back to life! Go kill those bastards who killed our parents. Go beat that bitch who hung up on me till she bleeds like how my mother bled! Dammit! It was almost Christmas. Mama and Papa had promised to buy us a tree the next day. But they couldn't. Why? Because they were dead!" I shouted tears rolling down my eyes.

"I promise you, I will handle those men myself. A man's honor, but please come out so we can help you."

"Go to hell! Do you know how hard it was for me to tell Ami that Mama and Papa were gone? Do you? God she was only one! That was going to be her first Christmas. Do you know how much I cried because her first Christmas was celebrated with death and bloodshed?"

"Onee-chan, please agree with the man," begged Ami clutching her still holding her injured shoulder.

Sighing, I took a deep breath and showed my fake smile for Ami.

"Listen…Ikuto…I surrender. But only because of Ami, so you can thank her later. I hope you're fucking happy," I mumbled.

I hung up the phone and opened the door for all the hostages, who ran out of the bank like freaking mice. Behind them, Ami and I followed. I really hadn't noticed how long I had been in the bank. Officers ran toward us and as they got closer, I moved in front of Ami and put my hands side by side in a protective stance.

"You can do whatever you want to do with me later, but take Ami to the hospital first!"

I stared at the shock eyed officers. They apparently thought we were the hostages. Was it because they thought I was too young to pull of a hostage? When the officers started to spread out, I sighed in relief and lowered my arms, only to bring them back up when there was a murmur amongst the crowd and officers started to move again. When everything had stopped moving there was a loose circle around us. Ami and I in the middle along with another officer.

"Why are you guys just surrounding the hostages? And you call yourself officers," announced the blue haired male with a small chuckle.

I stared at this idiot strangely while other officers choked back a comment and others whispered. The officer in front of me probably hadn't noticed anything until another officer interrupted him.

"Officer Tsukiyomi that is the suspect. She's the one that broke into the bank."

"Hahah nice one! Okay that one was funny, but we really should get that little one to the ambulance."

When no one else laughed, the grin that was on this so called negotiator's face faded and he turned his attention to us. He looked at us up and down and then his attention was caught on my arm.

"Um…are you going to put your gun…down?"

I looked down at my hand and realized I still had the gun in my grasp. I dropped it to the floor and looked back at the officer.

"What's your name?" asked Ikuto.

"Amu."

"Your little sister I presume. Her name?"

"Ami."

"Ages?"

"…I'm 10 and she's 1…"

Besides the shouting of officers and the sirens wailing in the background everything went silent.

"Come with me," he said sternly.

A Couple hours later

Nurses briskly walked down the long halls of the hospital, and little kids either cried or were talking rapidly. I on the other hand was sitting here in the waiting room with that Ikuto cop right next to me.

"Thank you," I spoke suddenly, breaking the long uncomfortable silence.

"How?" he asked.

"How what?" I snapped.

"How did you…manage to get this kind of a lifestyle?"

I looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath.

"My parents were murdered…I told you that over the phone already, but after that none of our relatives wanted to take us in. Well…I say it like that because they all had an excuse, and one day while there was another meeting assigned to see who would take us in, I took Ami with me along with some money and food and escaped. At first it was really frightening. It was like I was in another world, nothing at all like my old one. We went from shelter to shelter, but each one would kick us out sooner or later. Something I soon learned was that I needed to have street smarts and a good self defense so I purchased a gun…actually stole it but I did leave a 5 dollar bill in its place. From there on, I started to steal, and beat up people for whatever provisions I need to support the two of us. I lied and committed many other crimes…and I know I can never be fully forgiven. I know I've committed sins."

"You haven't committed a sin. Crimes maybe but not sins. You did what you had to protect your sister."

"Don't feel sorry for me, because I'd probably just beat you up!"

"Ahaha…no it's not that I feel pity. I feel more of a respect towards you."

"Respect?"

"Yes. I don't think there would be any other 10 year old who could've pulled off what happened earlier today."

"Yeah."

"Say, when did your parents die?"

"…Um…2 years ago."

"You went to school right?"

"Yeah, but I stopped after our parents died."

"Let's see, 8 years old so that would be 3rd grade. Hmm…let's make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'll give you $100,000 in scholarship money to complete your education along with your little sisters, if you promise not to do anything bad anymore. Deal?" he asked sticking out his hand.

"Deal," I smiled taking his hand and shaking it.

What I didn't know was that by shaking this officer's hand my life had already changed.

A/N

Hi everyone! New story new story! So if you've seen or read my last story Rumors, Secrets, and Love: welcome back! If you've ready any of my other stories: welcome back! If you're new to my stories! Welcome! Hehe ~ anyways I've had this idea for a while now and I've been itching to get it published. So yeah.

Hoped you liked it!

BTW! I almost forgot the ages!

Ikuto: 17

Amu: 10

Ami: 1